| Forum Announcements |
 Role Playing Rules - A Must Read for ALL Role-Players -- 7/12/2006 21:00:00
|
Role-Playing Rules
Here is the place to Role Play with your fellow Adventurers! Before you start Role-Playing, you MUST read the rules!
READ THESE RULES SLOWLY AND THOROUGHLY
Table of Contents:
1. Be Respectful to the Board and Users!
2. Keep “In Character”; this is the Role Play area. If you need to converse with someone have OOC conversations, this can be done the through OOC threads, email, private message or a chat program such as AIM, MSN, IRC, etc...
3. No bunnying or godmodding.
4. Keep all RPs in the Adventure Quest World.
5. Be fair and reasonable in combat, and respect the other participants.
6. Any person can be the author of an RP, but may only be the author of ONE open RP at any time.
7. No profanity, sex, drugs, etc. This is a PG13 Forum.
8. Use grammer as correctly as you can. We sometimes have trouble understanding what people are trying to say.
9. Keep the number of RPs you are in to a maximum of 3 or 4 at a time.
10. No signatures in the RP.
11. No One-Liners or Mini-Posting.
12. No double-posting, for any reason.
13. No attempts to have multiple accounts in the Role-Playing section.
14. Respect the NPCs, and refrain from using them excessively.
Have Fun and BattleOn!
Important Note: Arch Knights and Adventure Guides will delete any post they find to be in bad taste, at their own discretion. For information on appealing a decision, see APPEALING A DECISION.
DETAILED Rule Explanation Section for all Role Playing Forums
In addition to the general forum rules, when role playing you will need to be aware of, and abide by, the RP rules. The Adventure Quest Staff have the final say on ANY circumstance. You are to respect their decisions whenever a situation calls for them to intervene. We are here to help, to guide, and to moderate the RP board and all we ask is for your cooperation and patience :-) That being said, we want you to have a good time and be respectful to your fellow players - this doesn't mean your character has to like anyone else since characters do not always reflect on the person/player, but you should treat all the other users respectively.
1. "Role Playing" is not an excuse to violate any rules.
Claiming to have been “Role-Playing” does not excuse you from the rules. While we encourage role-playing, you must still act in a reasonable manner. While your character may have different relationships with other characters, you need to remember not to harass another character or player.
As well, please only post RPs in the RP boards.
2. Keep OOC (Out-Of-Character) comments in the OOC threads
Keep OOC ("out of character") chat to an absolute minimum. There is a separate thread for OOC-related conversation. Use the OOC thread, email, chat or PM members of your RP to plan your responses with the other person, since a bit of planning makes a great story. You must remain in character in all posts on threads clearly marked as IC (In-Character) areas. You may add short OOC comments to the end of your roleplays for clarification or emphasis on something, HOWEVER, do not make a post that is entirely OOC. Doing such disrupts the story. As well make use of the Edit button to make any additions or corrections to a post, rather than adding them to an OOC comment in your next post.
Bios are OOC! Do NOT post bios in the RP. Those can go in the OOC if you want them.
Additional rules are OOC! Do not post rules that you want people to follow in the RP. If you want to call attention to specific rules, post them in the OOC.
The actual RP should have >>>nothing<<< but RP.
3. No Bunnying or Godmodding.
When you are role playing on the boards, avoid bunnying and godmodding.
Godmodding is similar in that it's cheating the system. When somebody godmods, he or she is manipulating the situation that their character is in at the time so that said character comes out without a scratch. For example, if Death Knight attacks your character and you say that you killed him with one arrow and have not even broken a sweat, then you have just godmodded. Generally, the person that starts the storyline will continue it by giving you an outcome to the actions you take. And yes, sometimes you will have to wait for them to continue the story, as most players are not online all day.
Another aspect of godmodding occurs when you force another player to take damage from attacking them, OR never being able to take damage from other players.
Bunnying is taking control of characters, other than your own that is, and having them do actions that their real owners do want wish you to make. This is not only rude, but also disrespectful to the other players and is against the very idea of role playing since RPing is interacting with other people who have their own views and desires to create a intermeshing storyline. Someone’s character may react differently than you think he or she would, so don't presume to control ANY character but your own.
If the NPC is a general character, and it intended just so that there are "Extras" in the background, then every person should be allowed to use the NPC, without it being determined bunnying, since no particular character has claim to the NPC.
However, if a person introduces an NPC as a minor character, for the point of using them for some purpose, then it WOULD be bunnying to declare the person doing an action without the originators consent.
To determine the difference between an NPC and a minor character, generally you can do this.
NPC: Someone that doesn't fill any requirement in the storyline, or is completely unimportant except for detail/continuity sake.
Minor Character: This character has a small role to fill, and without the role, the RP couldn't proceed in the direction it needs to. Once the role has been filled, a minor character becomes an NPC...but only after.
4. Play in the Adventure Quest World.
These are the Artix Entertainment Role Playing Boards, and as such all Role Playing must stay in the AQ/DF/MQ world. This does NOT mean that just because you state that you are in “Battleon” that you can just RP however you want - adding lasers and Godzilla, etc. That means keep to the relative time period and methodology of weapons, armour, etc that is current around. There are NO chain guns, rocket launchers, etc in the RP area.
There IS drakel weaponry available in the game however, and it IS powerful. However, this type of weaponry is RARER THAN RARE and you have to show extreme caution when role-playing with any type of Drakel weaponry/technology and have good reasons to have it.
As well, you are able to RP in both the Past and Future for storyline consistency. This does NOT mean, however, that you can advance 2 centuries ahead and change the world to be however you want, nor can you go back in time and re-write a critical piece of history. If you wish to write things like this, you can go write a fan fiction in the Legends and Lore section of the boards. When moving ahead in the future, please keep to a relatively close time frame (a decade or two is close, a century or two is not). Only the creators know how the fate of LORE is going to unravel, so don't draw your own conclusions. As well, role-playing in the "Future LORE" as based on the Future Wars Quest is frowned up. That section of timeline is very specific in what happens, and you do not know nearly anything of what is going on during that time period.
As well, other anime/game/story related RPs are not welcome. There are many places that you can post them, but here is not one. Please do not even bother introducing Pokemon, Goku, Inuyasha, Gundams, etc, etc.
5. Battle/Combat
There are few guidelines on any combat your character may have with NPCs. You must keep things reasonable and, during most situations, follow the rules of whoever created the NPC and/or storyline you're involved in. Very few things are more annoying than a person taking the time and care to create a nice NPC and some companion of theirs takes out a dagger and puts it right in his back. If you created the NPC, then you may, of course, do as you please, but you should respect others' creations. Similarly, NO player is allowed to create an NPC that will help your character in combat with another player. This is blatant godmodding and is not in the spirit of good gaming. Without this rule, any player could simply create a gang of NPCs to go around with them and defeat every player he/she met.
When in combat with another player, pay careful attention NOT to bunny (role-play another's character). If the two of you (or more) cannot work out how a fight will go out of character, then you are to simply role-play your character's action or reaction in the fight. This means not killing off someone else's character without discussing it with them also. If your character is open to being killed at another characters whim, indicate this at the beginning of the RP...but remember, then anyone can kill your character at anytime, with any reason, or no reason.
6. One topic only per author!
Each person may be the author of one RP ONLY at any one time. All other RP's must FIRST be locked or deleted. If a person is found to have more than one open at a time, the Moderators will choose one to remain open, and will lock or delete any others. The choice of action that they take is their own. Note that if they lock one for you cause you opened another up, this will get added as an infraction to your personal history.
Additionally, you may only have one current RP OOC. If you wish to have a second OOC open to prepare for a new RP that will start once a current RP closes, you have to ask permission from Kellehendros or Ronin of Dreams directly.
7. Keep the board PG-13
All AQ content is considered PG-13. As such, all the actions on this board must be kept under PG-13. This means you cannot use profanity, promote drugs, or have explicit scenes on the forums.
Profanity is automatically blocked, but that does not mean your CHARACTER can’t curse. You just have to be creative like, “By the Light Lord!” or “Darkovian Scum!”
As was common in medieval times, you character can smoke a pipe if you so wish.
In regards to sex, it is not TOTALLY banned, but you cannot be explicit about it. If you want to imply to the fact that your character has slept with someone, that is as far as you can go.
8. Grammar and Spelling!
This should be a no brainer. When you post something, be sure that the words are spelt correctly and that the sentences are full sentences that make sense. Also, don't post your entire post in one large paragraph. Space out and seperate your sentences.
9. Keep the number of RPs you are in to a minimum
Getting into a whole bunch of RPs is very unadvisable. As you begin to participate in more and more RPs, your characters can start to get overlapped together, and the stories become harder to follow. You also need to donate a LOT more time to Role Playing. So keep the number of RPs you are participating in to no more than 3 or 4.
10. No signatures
Do NOT post your Signatures in the RP forums. At all. Not once a thread, or once every, but never, ever, ever. If you leave them on in the OOC that is fine, but during the actual RPing the signatures should be off completely.
11. No One-Liners or Mini-Posts
Most people are familiar with “One-Liners”, but a new term to the RP dictionary is now “Mini-Posting”.
One-Liners: These are literally one or two line posts, on a 1280x1024 sized screen. These are not allowed under any circumstance.
Mini-Posts: A new term to describe very short posts. Mini-posts are anywhere from 3-5 lines. Mini-posts are One-Liners that had words added to them but had no additional meaning or feeling put into them. While they are not as BAD as one-liners, mini-posts are not allowed either.
If there are 5 or more one liners or mini-posts COMBINED on the first page of an RP, it will automatically be deleted.
While you can have a short post, they MUST be a) informative b) meaningful and c) proper sentences. A mod will decide at their own discretion if a post is a One-Liner, Mini-Post or a legitimate post. For more information, please view the One-Liner/Mini-Post Guide!
HELPFUL HINT! If you post MORE than 5 lines, or better yet, two paragraphs, you don’t need to ever worry about getting in trouble for these easy to fix infractions!
12. No Double Posting
The forums have a feature called an edit button. If you need to include information after you have posted, or if people had wanted more out of you, you are NOT allowed to make another post if you are the last one to have posted. Simply edit your posts and add it to the end of your original post. Double posting is a HUGE no-no in the RP forums, even more so than in the rest of the forums.
13. No Attempts at Multiple RP Accounts
First of all, multiple forum accounts is against the forum rules, and you will lose all your extra accounts and recieve a warning. Secondly, if you already have an account on the forums in the RP group, and you attempt to get into the RP group with a second account, not only will your multiple accounts be banned, you will be permanently removed from the RP Forums. There is no tolerance for this.
14. Respect the NPCs, and Limit Your Use of Them.
By respecting the NPCs, it means respecting who they are, what they stand for and keeping everything pertanent to that NPC true. This means that the following (included but not limited to) occurs: you don't maim, kill, disfigure, scar, alter appearance, or change their personalities, jobs, unique traits, or the reason they are in Lore or BattleOn and its surrounding area.
There are a number of reasons for this.
First of all - most of the NPCs in the game are actually represented in the forums by real people. They are the works of those people, and have let their unique character be published for use by Artix Entertainment. As a person's character, they must be treated with the same respect you'd give another Role-Player's character.
As an example, the NPC "Blackhawke" is actually Role-Played by the Staff Member with the same name - Blackhawke - on these forums, and can not be role-played by other characters because of this. Violation of NPCs represented in this way actually constitues bunnying a character that is not your own.
Secondly, the use of these NPCs is very often altered by the person holding the RP, and the NPC used is often tailored to fit the situation they are in. This should not be the case, and NPCs should only act as they act in the game.
And finally, the changing of these NPCs effects the very nature of BattleOn, and in some cases, a greater part of he world of Lore itself. This means that you are altering the scenario that has been set up and taking control of the background environment into your own hands. This actually leaves the realm of Role Playing, and becomes fanfiction, which is not what the Role Playing boards try to portray.
Now, that all being said, the NPCs of Lore play an important part in the world, and we DO want you to interact with them, or use them if you require them. Briefs instances of NPCs is all right, and even more major roles can be played if extra care is taken. All we ask is that you adhere to the guidelines explained above. To help illustrate the point, here are some helpful examples:
-->Looking up Warlic to get him to scry a potential threat to Battleon be permissible. This is how Warlic acts - he does his best to protect people, and his actions are in accordance with his character.
-->Going to Valencia to get a rare item identified would be permissible: after all, she's a rare item hunter, so she very likelywould have the necessaryknowledge concerning the rare item in question.
-->Visiting Yulgar's Inn to drink, have a meal, discuss the plan of action between characters, or to simply shoot the breeze would definitly be permissible: That's the point of the Inn! (Although if that is the only point to the RP, you should go to the RP "Yulgar's Inn")
--XX Having Warlic, Artix, Galanoth, Zorbak, etc travelling around with your character during the RP is NOT acceptable. This is not how these characters would act. The only reason any NPC should have to travel with you is because there is NO OTHER WAY for something to be done, without that NPC. It may be that you REQUIRE Warlic's magic to unseal a castle, but after doing this Warlic would not continue on with you - he would head back immediantly to BattleOn. Try to avoid scenarios like this.
Miscellaneous Questions (FAQ)
Q: Can I play the same character in multiple threads at the same time?
A: While it is not against the rules, it is frowned upon. Your character should only be in one RP at a time unless one is specifically being held at a different time (ie, one is a <Past> RP and one is just a normal present RP.
Q: My friend is going to be gone for a while, and he asked me to play his character for him. Am I allowed to do this?
A: As long as your friend asked you, and that you are both okay with the agreement, then you are allowed to play a friend’s character for them. However, do not come to a Mod if your friend kills your character or plays it wrong. Note, this is NOT bunnying because you have their permission. Along with this-you cannot godmod another person’s character just cause they aren’t there either, just like you cannot godmod your own characters.
Q: Why do I need to read every little bit of the Rules?
A: The reason for that is because if people just read the rule outlines, they may miss out on important details about the rules. The detailed section of the rules are given to further expand your knowledge.
Q: Can I play a God?
A: Generally, no. The ONLY exception is that the RP is about said God and SOMEONE needs to play the God. However, all players need to be okay with this. Unless you have specifically stated before hand that fighting the God will be useless and he can’t be harmed, etc, then you cannot battle other players with said God.
This goes for inter-dimensional beings, supernatural beings, etc. A regular character cannot be invincible!
Q. I REALLY, REALLY need/want to kill Safiria/Artix/Galanoth/Blackhawke/Zorbak/(some other NPC)!
A: For the last time - NO! The NPCs are not to be simply used to portray whatever consequence or drama that you wish. Your RP can't be altering the very aspect of Lore to be viable. If you need one of these types of characters to die, the only solution is to create a character of your own that fits the description you need, and have that NPC cared for in similiar fashion. A Paladin has to die? Paladin John of Village SomePlace fits your description PERFECTLY.
GENERAL TIPS!
1: If you create a new thread, you need to describe the setting and basic start of the story for the other players. Be as descriptive as possible. You should give at least a paragraph or two to go on, maybe idea of where you would like to see the story go.
2: Include as much as possible in each post, as it makes it hard for others to read if there are a lot of really tiny posts by just a few players. Rule of thumb, make sure your paragraphs are wider than your thumb (on a 1280x1024 size screen that is).
3: Be sure you know what is going on in the story before you post. Also be sure that you are clear on what you are adding to the story, so the others can respond to your characters actions.
4: Edit! Please, take the time to edit your posts prior to posting them. Open up a word processing program (like Microsoft Word) for a quick spell check & to add proper punctuation. This makes it so much easier for everyone to understand what you are saying. Try to write as if you are writing a book.
IMPORTANT NOTES
Note 1: A Welcome Message will be provided to all new members of the group, which you can use to determine that you have been added.
How to Join the Role-Playing forums:
For those who wish to join the Role-Playing forums, the application process is as follows. Send a PM to Kellehendros or Ronin of Dreams with an appropriate subject line, containing a brief sample of your roleplaying, about 1-2 paragraphs in length. It can be of a fighting sequence, a simple conversation, or anything else you think appropriate. You may also wish to include a bio of a character you create. Though this is not required, it is encouraged, as it may make anything you submit easier to understand. For those who have never written a character bio before, go here for some examples. Kellehendros or Ronin of Dreams will then read over your submission, and if it's decent and doesn't break any forum rules, you'll be added to the RP group. Submissions will be checked every few days, at most.
For those who wish to join the Role-Playing Academy, a sample isn't necessary, but it is encouraged. You'll be added in the same timeframe as those who request to join the normal Role-Playing group. If you submit a bio and RPing sample, you'll likely be given feedback as well.
One last thing to note, when submitting samples for approval into the Role-playing group. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE ANOTHER PERSON'S WORK! This will lead to a severe warning at best and an immediate ban from the forums at worst. Besides, it's not fun when we have more of the same here. Be creative, and you'll go far.
Original Rules courtesy of Moon_Called and Morkath.
|
|
